Sandra Moumoutjis, Executive Director of our Learning Innovation Network, was struck by the family reunion vibe at the 2023 Aurora Institute Symposium in Palm Springs, California. It was the first in-person symposium since before the pandemic and she was excited to reconnect in real-time instead of over a Zoom screen. Sandra was also happy to see student panelists and participants, a reminder that the voices of young people must be amplified and heard in our work.
For me, it was like the first day of school: a mix of jitters and excitement. This was my first in-person national event as Instructional Coach and Designer at Building 21. I immediately felt at ease as I met colleagues from across the country, many of whom I’d only known from their Tweets or blog posts. If the convention center was a high school, I felt like I was sitting at the cool kids’ table, except the cool kids are really nice and into competency-based education.
A standout session for Sandra was Alcine Mumby’s keynote on liberatory assessment systems. She said, “It really made me think about the damage we do when we label kids, to really embrace CBE as measuring growth and progress, not mastering this and this.” You can find recordings of the other keynotes here.
Jazminn Wiliams and Dr. Angelique Drakeford’s Meet the Experts session called “Colorblind or Naw? A Deep Dive Into How Colorblindness Impacts School Culture” stood out to me because of its case study format and the open conversation about race and bias.I hope more presenters will facilitate sessions in this exact format where participants can have courageous conversations so we can not only make schools better for everyone, but challenge ourselves to do own work first.
If you attended the symposium but didn’t get to attend one of our sessions or you didn’t attend and are curious, we are happy to offer you summaries and resources below. We hope to see you in New Orleans in November 2024!
Presenter: Sandra Moumoutjis, Executive Director of the Learning Innovation Network
This workshop was a deep-dive, hands-on experience focused on introducing competency frameworks from across the country and providing guidance and information on how to plan, design, and implement learner-centered, competency frameworks and systems change. If you would like access to the competency frameworks, including examples of educator and leader competencies, and concrete, actionable steps to begin the transformation to personalized and competency-based learning, please go here.
Presenters: Sandra Moumoutjis, Executive Director of The Learning Innovation Network and Kathryn Wilson, 2Revolutions, Leader-in-Residence
There are many examples of personalized, competency-based learning organizations. However, how many began as traditional schools? This session explored lessons learned by individuals currently engaged in the transformation process. Participants engaged in an analysis of their own context, examining current structural conditions and dispositions. Then, they built on that learning to create an actionable plan for next steps in their transformations to student-centered learning. Please go here to find out more.
Presenter: Thomas Gaffey, VP of Technology and Innovation & Sandra Moumoutjis, Executive Director of the Learning Innovation Network
To truly transform education and make anytime, anywhere learning a reality, we need to replace the traditional structures upon which our schools are built. Go here to find out how we can use competency portfolios to replace those structures, to rethink and reorganize the master schedule, and to enable personalized, anytime, anywhere learning, offering learners voice and choice in how, what, when, and where they learn.
Presenters: Thomas Gaffey, VP of Technology and Innovation & Heather Harlen, Instructional Coach and Designer, Learning Innovation Network
Replacing the traditional industrial model requires all of us to rethink how and where learning and assessment occur. Can students get credit for a project completed outside of school? Can a teacher certified in Math assess ELA competencies? What does school look like if students can get credit outside of courses? We invite you to engage with this slide deck, where we dive more deeply into the systems, structures, and mindsets that need to shift to enable anytime, anywhere learning.
Panelists:
Kimberly Dow, Executive Director, Khan Lab School & Khan Schools Network
Chad Carlson, Director of Research and Design, One Stone; President, Idea51
Dr. Brandi B. Kenner, founder and CEO of Choice Filled Lives
Tyler Thigpen, Co-founder & Head of Schools of The Forest School; Executive Director, Institute for Self-Directed Learning; Instructor, University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education
Sandra Moumoutjis, Executive Director of Building 21’s Learning Innovation Network
Moderator:
Brennan Barnard, Director of College Counseling and Outreach, Khan Schools Network
There are nearly as many iterations of competency-based education as there are schools. We have much to learn from the successes and challenges of our colleagues. During this panel discussion, we explored how schools can creatively collaborate and share best practices. We will allow edspace for participants to contribute diverse perspectives from their own work and identify new ways to innovate together. You can find out more here.
Presenters: Sandra Moumoutjis, Executive Director of the Learning Innovation Network, and Avery Reub, Vanier College
Making a full-school shift to CBE can be daunting for schools. How can we build curricular experiences that let stakeholders see and feel the benefits of CBE but that don’t require excessive investments of time and money? For example, the presenters of this talk are making a series of 2-week CBE learning experiences that any teacher can try out for free. Go here to find out how to create tools and best practices to get CBE into more learning institutions worldwide.
Author
Heather Harlen is an instructional coach and designer for Building 21’s Learning Innovation Network. She is proud to have spent over twenty years in the classroom and was a founding team member of Building 21 Allentown. You can contact Heather at heather@b-21.org.
